Kakashi's Sky
by Starsister12
Summary: After their adventure in the Land of Waves, Team 7 is on a survival training mission in the forest...without Kakashi. Who is the strange healer woman in the woods? And why is a ferocious cat demon badly injured...while defending Team 7 from attack?
1. The Shadow

Chapter 1

**_The Shadow_**

"I can't believe that we're being sent out on another training exercise!" Naruto fumed, blue eyes blazing and bright yellow hair crackling with frustrated energy.

"Oh, give it a rest, will you, Naruto?" Sakura sighed, brushing back her light pink bangs, although inwardly she could sympathize with Naruto. _You'd think that Kakashi-sensei would trust us with something a little more challenging than a forest survival test after protecting Master Bridge-Builder Tazuna from Gato's thugs in the Land of Waves,_ she thought, glancing over at the third member of their group. As always, Sasuke's face and dark eyes were unreadable.

"It's not fair!" Naruto continued to rave, oblivious to Sakura's words or Sasuke's silence. "We beat Zabuza and Haku on the bridge! We survived assassination attempts in the forest on the way to the Land of Waves! We did all that, and what do we get as a reward? A camping trip!" Completely overcome with disgust, Naruto decided to plop down in the middle of the road in protest of this unfair treatment. Unfortunately, his sudden stop caused Sakura to fall over him.

"Dimwit!" she yelled, smacking him. "Kakashi-sensei gave us this mission, so we have to follow through, whether we like it or not!"

"Some mission," grumbled Naruto.

"If you'd stop acting like a whiny brat, then maybe you'd notice that we're being followed," Sasuke said softly.

"Wha-?!" Naruto and Sakura started to say, but Sasuke silenced them with a hard look.

"Don't act suspicious," he said. "It's been tracking us for a while now."

Sakura glanced swiftly around, fingers edging towards her kunai knife. "Where is it? How long has it been following us?"

Naruto leapt to his feet. "How'd you know someone is following us?" he asked, attempting to keep his voice low.

"I don't know exactly where it is," Sasuke replied, "since it keeps shifting position. I've been catching quick glimpses of movement all morning, very slight but always keeping pace."

"Maybe it's Kakashi-sensei, coming to check up on us," Sakura proposed nervously.

"Doubtful," answered Sasuke. "He wants to see how we do on our own without him watching us."

"Well then, there's only one way to find out," said Naruto with a wicked gleam in his eye, cracking his knuckles in preparation for a jutsu.

Sakura smacked him again. "The last thing we need is you flat on your back because you decided to pick a fight with a badger. Leave it alone for now; we'll wait and see what they're up to."

Naruto rubbed his aching head. "You didn't have to go pound on me! I do have ears you know."

"Yeah, but you don't use them," Sakura shot back, green eyes flashing.

"Enough," said Sasuke. "Let's keep moving."

"You're just scared, that's all," muttered Naruto under his breath. Sasuke glared at the yellow-haired boy, then continued walking while Sakura ran to catch up with him, leaving Naruto in the dust.

"Girls," he growled, his eyes burning holes in his rival's back. Naruto glanced around quickly, feeling angry that he hadn't noticed they were being followed. But he didn't see anything. Nothing moved, and everything seemed peaceful. There was no sign of a pursuer, but somehow, Naruto felt unnerved. He shook his head in frustration.

"It's just Sasuke trying to make me do something stupid in front of Sakura," Naruto said to himself. "But it isn't going to work. I'm going to be the greatest ninja ever and become the next Hokage!"

Reassured by this familiar mantra, Naruto hurried to catch up to his teammates. If he had looked back, he would have seen the flicker of a shadow flash across his own before disappearing back into the shade of the trees. A pair of eyes peered through the leaves to focus on the three receding _genin_. Lean limbs trembled with the effort of keeping still.

_« hunt hunt want food want blood kill kill kill! » _

_— No. —_

_« hunt! hunt! hunt! »_

_— No. Wait. Watch. —_

_« then hunt? »_

_— No. —_

_« when hunt? »_

_—... —_

The shadow moved swift and silent through the trees, keeping pace with the young _genin._

_« whenwhenwhenwhen?! »_

_— Soon. —_

---


	2. Unexpected Aid and Attack

Chapter 2

**_Unexpected Aid and Attack_**

Sasuke was getting very tired of this. Whoever their pursuer was, they were very good. There were no more elusive flickers of movement, but he could feel eyes on him just the same. Then he glanced over his shoulder and saw Naruto glaring at him…as usual.

_What a loser_, Sasuke thought in disgust. _Instead of keeping an eye out for trouble, he's obsessed with trying to beat me. Heh. As if a weakling like _him_ could ever manage that._ But Sasuke remembered how fiercely Naruto had fought against Haku's secret jutsu in the Land of Waves and shook his head in frustration. _I have to remember not to underestimate him! He might be a loser, but he's determined to be Hokage…and that kind of determination will make him desperate enough to try anything to win._

Naruto's thoughts, while he tried boring a hole in Sasuke's back, were mostly along the lines of: _I'm going to beat you, Sasuke, and then everyone will know that I'm the best ninja ever!_

Sakura just looked at the two boys and rolled her eyes skyward in resigned disgust. Of course, that chance upward glance meant that she was the only one with a split second's warning before the attack. She had enough time to shout, "Above!" and leap to the side before all hell broke loose.

Men were suddenly dropping down around them, weapons flying and slashing. Sasuke had the quickest recovery time, whipping out a pair of shuriken before ducking a swing from a hardwood staff. Sakura had her kunai knife out and was trying to keep from being gutted by a pair of long knives. Naruto, a beat too slow as usual, was knocked to the ground.

"Hey, get off me!" yelled Naruto. One of the men punched him hard in the face and kicked him in the stomach. Naruto curled up into a ball, gasping for air.

"Shut up, punk," the thug said. "If your little friend hadn't yelled, you'd all be unconscious right now and wouldn't have to go through this."

"Naruto!" shouted Sakura, seeing his predicament, but unable to do anything about it. She dodged another swing of the long knives. "Hey, what do you want? Why are you trying to kill us?" the girl yelled.

The pair of thugs with knives just leered at her. "Gotta have some fun," one said before mounting the attack again.

Sakura dodged, knowing that her small kunai knife wouldn't be able to hold them off. _None of these guys are ninja,_ she thought, _but they took us by surprise while we were distracted, plus they outnumber us and are a lot stronger physically! _Sakura desperately blocked another vicious swipe, and felt someone bludgeon her from behind. _Kakashi-sensei, where are you?_ she wondered as blackness took her.

Naruto saw Sakura fall under her foe's crushing blow. "Sakura!" he yelled, struggling to his feet. "Sakura!" She lay still and silent. Naruto glared at the scarred thug. "You'll pay for that, you monster!" the boy shouted as he charged the bandit.

Another thug smacked Naruto aside and held him down, hands forced to the ground so he couldn't use any jutsu. "You just be real quiet-like and there won't be any trouble," the thug hissed, beady black eyes gleaming with malice.

"Naruto! Sakura!" yelled Sasuke. He snarled as he faced the remaining thugs. _Damnit, I don't know if I can take this many out by myself!_ Sasuke thought. His dark eyes hardened with determination. _But if I don't, then chances are we won't survive._

"Bring it on," he said softly, a dangerous smile on his face. Shuriken flew like birds as Sasuke used his superior speed to evade the more clumsy attacks from his opponents. But even Sasuke couldn't dodge all of the blows. A cudgel clipped his side, throwing him off balance, and then knives slashed his arms and legs, slowing him down further. Almost before he knew it, Sasuke found himself pinned down, badly wounded and unable to keep fighting. His eyes burned with fury at being brought to his knees by such weak and lowly opponents. _If only I'd been paying more attention! He thought furiously at himself_, glancing over at the unconscious Sakura.

Naruto could barely believe that Sasuke had been taken out like that…but he also knew that any ninja, no matter how good, could be taken down if there were enough opponents.

"Uppity little pipsqueak, ain't he?" said one of the thugs, kicking Sasuke's injured side. The black-haired boy hissed in pain.

"Stop it!" shouted Naruto, struggling against his captor. "Leave him alone!"

The thug holding Naruto clamped a hand around Naruto's throat and began to squeeze. "Shut up, you!" the man growled. "He had is coming, just like the rest of ya!"

Naruto was certain that he was going to die. Sakura and Sasuke were down for the count, he couldn't use his jutsu with the thug holding him down, and there was no one else around to help. _Is this…the end?_ Naruto wondered.

Suddenly a blue blur darted across his vision and the thug crushing Naruto's throat went flying backwards. Naruto found himself staring with embarrassment at the belly and chest of a woman who was crouching over him. He heard a low snarl coming from above him…was that her? Another blurred motion, and the woman was gone, allowing Naruto to sit up, staring in amazement as the thugs around them went flying. He couldn't even see her move, she was so fast, but wherever that blue blur went, enemies learned to fly. Naruto almost missed the fact that she was slaughtering her opponents…until he heard the gurgling screams and saw blood gushing from dismembered and slashed bodies.

"What the hell is this thing?" shouted one of the thugs, desperately trying to follow the woman's lightning-fast movements.

"I don't know, just kill it!" shouted another, the scarred one who had knocked out Sakura.

Naruto clambered to his feet and ran over to Sasuke.

"Hey, are you ok?" he asked.

Sasuke nodded shortly, climbing to his feet. "What about Sakura?"

The girl was slowly coming around as the two boys helped her sit up.

"Wha-what's going on?" Sakura asked, holding her head.

"We've got some company," Sasuke answered. "Someone came to help us, just in time."

The three _genin_ watched in silence as the battle continued. It really couldn't even be called a battle…more like a slaughter. Half of the bandits had been taken out already, the remainder were terrified but had no where to run. Then, the woman darted back out of the knot of thugs and landed on a low tree limb.

"What is that?" cried Naruto.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Hmmm…"

"I-I think it's…a demon," said Sakura shakily.

The woman crouched on the tree branch certainly wasn't human. While she was shaped like a human woman, she appeared to be part cat. Her fingers were tipped with claws, her feet were like cat paws, and a pair of white cat ears poked through a long, thick mane of wild, dark blue hair. A long white tail, marked with blue stripes lashed from side to side and more blue stripes marked her ghostly pale arms, legs, waist, and face. Her clothes consisted of a pair of ragged dark shorts and a simple cloth wrap around her chest. Dark blue eyes with slitted cat pupils burned with mindless hate. She bared her fangs at the bandits in a fierce smile, then, with a savage snarl, leapt for them.

"Now!" shouted a scarred man, and the group began hurling throwing knives, shuriken, stones, anything they could get their hands on. The woman knocked a few away from her face, but ignored the rest which tore into her arms, legs, and sides. If the woman felt any pain, none showed on her face…and the rain of weapons didn't slow her down in the slightest. Within moments, the remaining bandits were either dead or dying. Only the scarred bandit, the one who had hit Sakura, was still standing.

The cat-demon rose from her crouched position in the middle of the killing field, surveying her dead foes, then turned to face the last man. Another growl rumbled in her throat as her eyes narrowed. The man backed up, eyes wide with the knowledge that he was her next victim.

With another burst of blinding speed, the woman leapt at him, pinning the bandit against the truck of a tree with her claws. Her snarling visage was only inches from the thug's face, eyes burning with savage fury. The man was shaking in terror.

"Please!" he screamed. "Please, stop, have mercy! I surrender!"

A low snarl answered him and the woman tore out his throat.

Sakura gave a small scream and buried her face in Naruto's shirt. "How-how horrible," she whispered.

Naruto looked both surprised and pleased as he awkwardly patted Sakura on the back. "They would have done the same to us, Sakura," he said. "Be grateful it was them and not us."

"Don't get too comfy," Sasuke warned, eyes fixed on the cat-demon. "Just because she killed those men doesn't mean that she won't turn on us next." Sakura slowly turned to look.

The woman let the scarred man's body slide to the ground, her tail lashing from side to side. Then she turned her blood-spattered face towards them, eyes still burning as she looked at the three young _genin_. For a moment, there was no sound, no movement besides the cat-demon's lashing tail. Then they could hear another snarl rumbling in the woman's throat as she bared her bloodstained fangs and took a step towards them.

---


	3. Cautious Overtures

Chapter 3

**_Cautious Overtures_**

The cat-demon bared her bloodied fangs at the _genin_, snarling as she stepped towards them. Sasuke and Naruto were on their feet, tense and ready to fight, but they both knew that they didn't stand a chance if she decided to rip them apart.

Suddenly, the woman staggered, hissing in pain.

Sakura gasped, pointing. "Look at her stomach!"

A terrible gash from one of the bandits' weapons slashed across the torso of their "rescuer." Numerous other nasty cuts, abrasions, and bruises covered her lean frame. The woman was badly hurt and losing blood fast. She fell to one knee, hissing, but kept glaring at the _genin_ as if daring them to attack her. Even wounded, she could be deadly.

For a moment, no one moved, locked eye to eye. Then, Sakura slowly stood and began walking towards the cat-demon.

"Sakura!" Naruto cried in alarm.

Sasuke grabbed her arm. "What do you think you're doing?"

"She helped us," said Sakura reasonably. "She got hurt because she was protecting us. The least we can do is to help her now that she needs it."

"And you saw what she did to those men," Naruto retorted. "If you get too close, she'll do the same to you!"

"It's too risky," added Sasuke.

Sakura fought to keep her voice steady. Inside, she was shaking with fear, but she also felt compelled to help this strange woman who had risked her life to come to their aid. _Even if she did kill them like..like that. _"I know what I'm doing. Please, trust me."

Naruto opened his mouth to protest further.

"Alright."

"Huh?" Naruto stared at Sasuke. The black-haired boy was calm and collected as usual, despite the beating he'd taken.

"But," Sasuke warned, "if she makes the slightest threatening motion, get back."

Sakura nodded, and then returned her complete attention to the woman.

The cat-demon was watching them suspiciously, backing up awkwardly on all fours with one hand trying to hold the edges of the gaping wound together. Sakura advanced very slowly, pausing when she heard the cat-demon hiss.

"Shhhh, shhhh, easy now. It's ok, no one is going to hurt you," Sakura said soothingly. "Easy…easy now. It's alright, you're going to be just fine."

The cat-demon backed up further until she reached the foot of a tree and snarled a warning. Sakura paused again, then slowly knelt, never taking her eyes off the woman.

"Thank you very much for saving us," the girl said softly. "I'm sorry that you got hurt like that on our account. We should have been more careful, and kept better watch. Kakashi-sensei would have a few choice words for us, I'm sure, if he were here. Was it you who was following us earlier? I'm not really surprised; you're so fast it's hard to know if you're even there."

While the two boys watched, a look of confusion on Naruto's face, Sakura kept up a steady stream of one-sided conversation. The cat-demon's fur was still bristled, but her fangs weren't showing as much and some of the tension had gone out of her muscles.

— _What this? What this? —_

_« killkillkillkillkill! »_

_— No. —_

_« KILLKILLKILLKILL! »_

_— _No._ Listening. I…I feel… —_

Slowly, the cat-demon's fur began to lay flat and her tail stopped lashing. The snarls in her throat became softer and less threatening. Sakura began to inch forward, still speaking gently to the woman.

"Easy," she whispered. "Easy, girl. It's ok, everything will be just fine." Sakura was only a few feet away, keeping low to the ground so she wouldn't frighten the woman. She slowly reached for the med-aid kit in the pouch hanging at her side.

The cat-demon hissed at the movement, laying back her ears, and Sakura froze. Naruto and Sasuke tensed, ready to spring forward, but the blue-haired woman didn't make any motion towards the girl.

"I'm getting out the medicine and bandages," Sakura explained soothingly, moving her hand very, very slowly. "These will help you get better, but they won't do anyone any good if I leave them in the pouch." This time, the cat-demon was still and mostly quiet as Sakura pulled out the kit and came closer.

"Now, here's the tricky part," whispered Sakura. Her heart was pounding so hard, she was sure the cat-demon could hear it. She raised her light green eyes to meet the woman's deep blue ones.

"I'm going to have to touch you," Sakura said, "in order to put on the bandages and medicine before you loose too much more blood. It might hurt a little bit, but I'm just trying to help." The pink-haired _genin_ licked her dry lips and her voice came out barely audible. "Please, don't kill me."

The woman's deep blue eyes bored into Sakura's green ones. They flickered with some unidentifiable emotion, something almost…human, and she let out a soft growl without showing her fangs.

Taking this as a sign of assent, Sakura inched within arms length, opened the med-kit, and pulled out some ointment, bandages, and a clean cloth. She wet the cloth with water from her canteen and carefully reached out with her free hand. The woman flinched slightly, but held still, watching Sakura's every move. Explaining what she was doing, Sakura touched the woman's hand and moved it gently out of the way, wiping off the excess blood. Next, she applied the ointment to prevent infection, feeling little tremors race through her patient's body, but again there were no slashing claws or ripping teeth, only a few short hisses from the pain. Sakura carefully applied some of her chakra to help speed the healing as she held the wound together and placed a bandage over it. She'd never used chakra like that before, but had read about medic-nin who used chakra to speed healing. Hopefully the same would work here.

— _What…what is this? I…know this… —_

_« traptraptraphurthurthurtkillkillKILL! »_

— _NO. —_

_« snarl »_

Sakura felt the cat-demon's muscles tense for a second, as if she was going to strike, but before the girl could do anything, the moment passed and the cat-demon was relatively calm again. Her fierce blue eyes were still wary but the bloodlust had faded.

"Good girl," Sakura said softly. "See? That wasn't so bad. You'll be all better in no time." She slowly and carefully packed away the med supplies and backed away. "We have to go now, but you should be ok on your own. Thank you again for rescuing us." Once a safe distance away, Sakura stood, bowed, and carefully backed towards where Sasuke and Naruto were standing.

"Wow that was amazing, Sakura!" said Naruto, eyeing the cat-demon who still sat at the foot of the tree. "How did you do it?"

"When I was little, my dad found an injured cat with her newborn kittens," Sakura answered. "Even though she was hurt, she wouldn't let anyone near her or her kittens because she was afraid that we'd hurt them. She didn't understand that we were trying to help. But when I started talking to her and explaining to her what was going on, she calmed down a lot and let us help her and her kittens. I think animals either understand a lot more than we realize or they just need a steady, calming voice to make them feel safe, even if they don't understand. I figured that the same principle would work here."

"Now that we're done with your mercy mission, can we go?" asked Sasuke, still watching the cat-demon. "I don't trust being around this demon, even if she is calm now."

"Yeah, good idea," answered Naruto.

"Don't turn your back on her," Sakura warned. "Just keep backing away slowly so she knows we're not a threat."

Together, the three _genin_ walked backwards away from the cat-demon until they were back out of sight in the trees. The blue-haired woman watched them, not moving, until they were out of sight and she continued to listen to their footsteps until those too faded. Then, after they were gone, she slowly reached one hand to her torso. Already, the healing powers of demons were closing the wounds, but she did not remove the bandages.

— _Thank you...Gentle Hands. —_

---


End file.
